While we were suitably charmed by Marks & Spencer's Christmas personification of Percy Pig, thanks to Tom Holland [1], there's a certain TikTok account that is really warming our hearts at the moment: the brand's Romford store account.
The account, which started at the beginning of 2021, has garnered over 55,000 followers and almost 1.4 million likes down to its employees performing dance routines in-store, utilising viral songs and sounds to promote new products, deals, and most importantly: that Friday feeling.
Two videos went viral in early November. The first, a Romford worker giving her all to ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" while dancing to a backdrop of Percy Pig products and shortbread biscuits before being carried by two coworkers. The video earned her such comments as "GET THIS ICON A RAISE" and "This isn't Charity Shop Sue, it's M&S Mary."
The second was M&S Romford presenting the "BACKSTAGE boys" with five of the team giving a nostalgic, moody boy-band performance of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" — complete with reflective vests and puddles. Other beloved videos feature store workers dancing to Cameo's "Candy", an enthusiastic groove, to celebrate Prosecco deals, and an appreciation for new uniforms set to Drake.
What we never could have expected, however, was for the M&S Romford crew to drop a Christmas song, which they debuted to the world on 8 Dec. The track is titled "This Is Not Just a Christmas Song", and the 2-minute music video features the staff we've come to know and love decked out in Christmas Jumpers, strings of lights, and Santa hats as they take us through M&S's Christmas offerings. There's dancing, there's posh beans on toast, there's a life-size Percy Pig — and we even get introduced to the person responsible for filming it all. "Shout out to Sarah behind the scene gotta show some love", the star of the video raps as the camera pans over to Sarah holding her phone. Is she another Romford employee? Is she one seriously genius social media manager? Either way, she deserves a big round of applause for all the joy she's helped bring us in 2021. The song is actually available for download on iTunes, Apple Music, or Spotify, and in the true festive spirit, all profits go to two important charities, Shelter [2] and Together for Short Lives [3].
🚨 BIG NEWS 🚨 The M&S Romford team have dropped their very own Christmas song! 🎵 🎄🥳
Download "This Is Not Just A Christmas Song" by Team Romford on iTunes, Apple Music or Spotify now — all profits go to @Shelter [4] and @Tog4ShortLives [5].
We. Are. Obsessed. 💖 pic.twitter.com/YcmAN1nN3B [6]— M&S (@marksandspencer) December 8, 2021 [7]
Unlike some of the popular content on the platform [8], it's easy to see that these videos haven't gained virality on humour alone. There's something deeply special about witnessing people enjoy their jobs, with everyone involved, regardless of their dancing ability. The account gives you characters to invest in who demonstrate their true natures in a work environment, a space we're so often encouraged to present a filtered version of ourselves in. The M&S Romford TikTok account is free from facades and full of wholesome authenticity, making for some genuinely infectious content.
Watch all the entertaining videos ahead, and when you're inevitably hooked, follow M&S Romford on TikTok [9].